LINE & TRIGGER.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XII, Issue 717, 3 December 1903, Page 13

LINE & TRIGGER.

(By

“Gillie.”)

3'HE ANGLER. But look ! o’er the fall see the angler stand, Swinging his rod with skillful hand ; 3’he fly at the end of his gossamer line Swims through the sun like a summer moth. 3'ill, dropt with a careful precision fine, It touches the pool beyond the froth,) A-sudden, the speckled hawk of the brook Darts' from his covert and seizes the hook. Swift spins the reel ; with easy slip The line pays out, and the rod, like a

w’hip, Lithe and arrowy, tapering, slim, Is bent to a bow o’er the brooklet’s brim, Til] the trout leaps up in the sun, and flings The spray from the flash of his finny wings ; Then falls on his side, and, drunken with fright, Is towed to the shore like a staggering barge, Till beached at last on the sandy marge. Where he dies with the hues of the morning’s light, While his sides with a cluster of stars are bright, 3'he angler in his basket lays The constellation, and goes his ways. —THOMAS BUCHANAN READ.

A recent issue of the Hot Lakes “ Chronicle ” says : —“ T'hat angling has been indulged in pretty freely since the opening of the season on October 1 last is fully borne out by the fact that since that date up to yesterday no less than 1487 fish, weighing 61831 b in the aggregate, are known to have been captured in Lake Rotorua, the Channel, and Lake Rotoiti, and their tributaries. Included in this number some very fine trout specimens have been captured, notably one of 19Mb ; many othersi have turned the scale at lOtb, 121 b and 13lb. In addition to the above quantity, it may with safety be said that quite as

many more have been taken of which there is no record. On Sunday last two anglers in the Ngongotaha stream, succeeded in capturing 27 fish, weighing 1681 b, including a 12, 10, 9, and 8pounder. We venture to say there are few places outside of Rotorua where the followers of Izaak Walton can obtain better sport, and the fact but requires to be made well known to ensure a large number of visitois to our town. We would impress upon all anglers the necessity of supplying Mr 1 les, who is keeping a record for the 3'ourist Department, of the trout caught, with information, as it it only by this means that anything like a correst record of the actual number of fish secured can be ascertained.”

Good catches of trout continue to be recorded in the South. Messrs Cockbum and Fairburn when out fishing on the upper reaches of the Teviot killed 183 fish, the heaviest being 3 hey report the trout as being in splendid condition. Nearly all their catch was made with the fiv.

Mr Charles Lennett, of Ctaraia, succeeded in landing a magnificent trout, turning the scale at 16} th, from the Otaraia stream. 3'he fish was caught with the minnow.

Fishing in the 3'emuka and Opihi Rivers, last month, Mr J. Elder landed 384 trout, ranging from 61b downwards. His biggest basket in one day was 45.

The red deer herds at Lakes Wanaka and Hawea are looking- perhaps better than they have done for many seasons. Large numbers of stags without horns can be seen, this being- the month in New Zealand when the red deer stag sheds his antlers. 3'here has, perhaps, never before been so much feed on the mountain slopes as there is this season, and some of the finest antlers ever taken in New Zealand should be secured this coming deer season al Lake Hawea, the deer being rolling fat and feeding in native grasses up to their knees. The hinds are also very numerous, and mobs of twenty are frequently noticed feeding on the roads about the lake.

A walking fish is one of the latest novelties revealed to the British Association. Mr H. C. Robinson, who has spent two years in scientific investigation in the Malay Peninsula, recently exhibited to the Zoological Section a specimen of a fish known as the “ mud hopper,” whiclj, by means of strong fins under its body/is able to move about on land for distances of at least 20 yards from its watery nests in the swamps.

Great numbers of korora (penguins) are reported to be on the coast at 3'aharoa and Albatross Point, Raglan.